RoadTrip - Day 2

Driving through the Night/Morning - after spending about 5 hours on the same road we finally make it out of Virginia and into Tennessee. We're starting to get into unfamiliar territory, a nice mix of exhaustion and excitement fill our stale air. Right about the time we hit Alabama, the minivan informs us she needs an oil change. I'm sure this will end well.

We decide to hit up a wafflehouse for breakfast. I bring my laptop to find something to do before we hit New Orleans. Pretty sure it was the first laptop to grace this fine establishment. I think I should of got a free side of hashbrowns or something. Our waitress comes over and asks us something that none of us can understand. After 3 attempts she gets frustrated and pawns us off on another waitress who's fluent in yankee. After finishing up our extra healthy breakfast and getting a recommendation from the delightful Beverly, we're ready to get back on the road.

Random superhuge mythological statue with a great ass - Overlooking Birmingham is Vulcan park. It's centerpiece attraction is a 50-ft cast iron statue of Vulcan, the mythological god of fire and metal.

Here's an inscription from the base of the statue:

"Vulcan's Prophecy:

Just as my stature towers over the cone of earth

so shall the district, from whose breast the ore

and coal were torn and fused to give me birth

exceed all others in "times march". For O'er and O'er

nature hath flung her treasures with a generous hand

and Birmingham sits throned. Both hemispheres

can draw on her. The mineral wealth of every land

is there allied to rule the world in future years"....ah, ok. moving on.

Retired warrior - shortly after visiting our superhuman statue friend we head due south for Mobile Alabama. In a harbor in Mobile sits the decommissioned battleship USS Alabama. She's an unbelievably impressive monster of a ship. We buy tickets for a self guided tour and spend the next two hours exploring the ship. Everything about it is imposing, from the artillery right down to the sleeping quarters. She typically had over 2500 crew members and earned 9 battlestars during World War II. The whole time walking through the ship I kept thinking to myself, guys much younger than me were working here under the worst of conditions, ready to fight for their lives at any moment. Heroes died here defending our country, they have my respect and admiration. Definitely worth the price of admission, plus they have a bunch of other decommissioned military vehicles and artillery including a submarine and a handful of planes and jets.

Welcome to New Orleans! - after leaving Mobile we're finally ready for New Orleans. We arrive at the city limits in a torrential rain storm, cementing our preconceived notions of a swampy rainforest city. We pull up to our hotel valet and realize we need to figure out how to get all of our 3 cubic tons of junk out of the minivan and into the hotel since we won't have access to our car. By this point we've probably packed and re-arranged once or twice so we have a general idea, but in a downpour and working on very little sleep, it was less than fun. Tim's prized cowboy hat (with effeminate sash) was almost a casualty.

After we get settled into our hotel and catch up on the NFL draft, Tim's friend (and soon to be tour guide), Jameel arrives. He's an awesome guy and we have all the confidence he will show us a good time.

We start off with Po-boys and handgrenades (mixed drink with lots of Grain and a non-threatening plastic handgrenade floating in them) on Burbon street. We then convince Jameel to take us to the cool parts of town that only the locals know about. We head to the "Frenchman district" and enjoy some fine cocktails and jazz at Ray's Boom Boom Room. We order a round of shots which Jameel negotiates into what appears to be a full bottle of Vodka. Jake does about 1/2 a shot and then decides to start conducting experiments involving fire an flammable alcohol. and that's the story of how the great new orleans fire of 08 started...I mean everything turned out fine. Really.

After the fi...I mean Rays, we check out some of the other cool bars in the frenchman. At one point we stopped in a bar that I can only guess caters to tranny-senior citizens, at least based on the live show going on. New Orleans. a little something for everyone. We end up having a great time, making some awesome new friends, and getting a good feel for the super cool non-touristy night life of New Orleans. We can't wait for part 2.